Mining Product: Design Criteria and Guidelines for Falling Object Protective Structures (FOPS)

This study addresses several engineering and economic facets of possible roll-over protective structure (ROPS) and falling object protection structure (FOPS) requirements in the metal-nonmetal mining industry. The economic effects of proposed Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration regulations are analyzed in terms of machine population, ages of the equipment, cost of rops/fops retrofit, and operator protection available from the protective structure. The engineering portion of the study dealt with first classifying rock falls into potential energy ranges and then analyzing the machine from structure to determine the energy adsorption capability. The ROPS/FOPS performance criteria was then recommended as well as certification procedures that would verify the structural performance.